Shots from Huntington Park in Newport News, where the district's top players gathered to compete ... (SONNY DEARTH/DAILY PRESS)

Sonny Dearthsdearth@dailypress.com | 757-247-4640

NEWPORT NEWS -- Surely the shutout streak would end, right?

Wrong.

The boys from Menchville, who went through the Peninsula District tennis regular season without losing an individual match, still hadn't lost to players from another team as first-day competition concluded at the district individual tournament at Huntington Park.

The Monarchs went 81-0 in individual matches during the district season, but their dominance came into clearer focus in some of Thursday's singles matches.One prize for winning the district team title is getting six players into the singles draw. The spots are proportioned by team finish -- the second-place team gets five, for example, while the last-place team gets one.

Four of those six Monarchs reached the quarterfinals. The two who didn't lost to teammates.

Menchville's Matt Strehle, because he only plays in the No. 3 spot in dual matches, is not among the event's eight seeds. But, as he did last year by reaching the semis, Strehle showed he's a threat to advance far, ousting sixth seed Matthew Pittman of Bethel 6-0, 6-4 in the first round, then beating fellow Monarch Steven Gangitano 6-2, 6-1. Gangitano plays No. 5 for Coach Steve Sipe's team.

Top-seeded Jake Fields of Menchville, the defending singles champion, lost just one game in four sets. Fourth seed Jarrett Griffin of Woodside also advanced to the semifinals with a pair of straight-sets victories.

Perhaps the day's most compelling match was between two Monarchs. Freshman Austen Delnicki, who plays No. 4 in dual matches, was facing senior teammate Stuart McCroskey, who competes at the No. 2 spot and is seeded third.

McCroskey, last year's runner-up in singles and doubles champion with Fields, couldn't shake his ninth-grade teammate for a while. Delnicki trailed for almost all of the first set but won it in a tiebreaker, but McCroskey's experience prevailed in a 6-7 (4-7), 6-3, 6-2 triumph.

"It was a battle," McCroskey said. "I'd never played him in a match (in practice), just 10-point tiebreakers."He has a really bright future. He's on the JV soccer team (as a starting midfielder) -- that's why he's such a good athlete."

In doubles, all three Menchville pairs won their first-round matches. Gloucester's Justin Edington and Wesley Keeter edged fourth-seeded Steven Polyson and Sharif Merritt of Denbigh 7-6 (10-8), 4-6, 6-2.Friday, the PD girls tournament will begin with two rounds of singles and one round of doubles.

By the end of Friday, all of the divisions will be down to the quarterfinals. The finalists in each bracket will advance to the Eastern Region individual tournament.

Next week, boys and girls competition will resume at 2 p.m. Tuesday. Those boys singles quarterfinals will have a dual-match feel, as each match will pit a Monarch against a foe from another school. They are:

Fields against Bethel's Desmund Delaney, Pingley versus Griffin, McCroskey vs. fifth seed Darnell Wilkins of Heritage, and Strehle against second seed Julian Frings, a powerful German exchange student who attends Woodside.The boys and girls semis are set for 2 p.m. Thursday and the finals for 2 p.m. Friday, May 10.